All to Him I Owe

Mark 3:14 says of Jesus that He “ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.” Our Lord used the classroom of everyday life to disciple people. Notice that the classroom He chose was not filled with chairs, desk, and a lectern. It probably would not have even included coffee at Starbucks, had He had access to one! He discipled others in the classroom of everyday life as they spent time with him.

You and I cannot program or structure really good discipleship, because it just happens in the routine of everyday life between people who are striving to pull one another along in their walk with the Lord! When discipleship is done well, it looks a lot like a good godly friendship. The relationship between friendship and discipleship is a two-edged sword. If you are struggling to have close friends, you will struggle to be a disciple maker. On the other hand, if you are able to build good friendships, then you will easily learn how to become a disciple maker.

At times, I have had people ask me to assign them someone to disciple, someone they can instruct and someone into whose life they can speak. But discipleship cannot be assigned. When we assign someone to another, it will inevitably look more like a classroom than a place of discipleship.

Good disciple makers don’t sit around waiting for someone to be assigned to them. They look at the friends God has already given them and begin discipling those friends using the tools we have talked about the last few weeks. Their goal is not to make their friends like themselves. Their goal is to walk with their friends in a way that leads both parties closer to Christlikeness.

Let’s work at having good godly friendships, because the more we work at that, the more we will find ourselves discipling others for the glory of God.